Today is Kaylee Cavanaugh’s first round match in the Tournament of Heroines and she would really love it if you stopped by and cast your vote for her.

You can even vote more than once if you have an extra computer, a cell phone or other device that will let you vote!

{Just click on Tod’s picture above to be taken to the blog hosting the tournament to vote for Kaylee and support this amazing heroine.}

Kaylee Cavanaugh, if you haven’t yet met her, is the main character in Rachel Vincent’s Soul Screamers series. She’s a bean sidhe, or banshee, and aside from the potential to live a little longer than most humans, she’s just a regular girl.

Well, except for the fact that she has to “sing” whenever someone near her is about to die. Though it only sounds like singing to male bean sidhes like Nash or Tod. To everyone else it sounds like she’s screaming at the top of her lungs. So, no. Not one of the most wished-for abilities to have.

But even without a super power or supernatural strength she is still amazing. And even without the ability to practice magic, wield a sword, or master the art of hand-to-hand combat, there is no question that Kaylee is, in every sense of the word, a heroine.

We think the following paragraphs from the tournament defense say it best…

If these characteristics are still not enough for you to believe in Kaylee, check out this video to see just a fraction of what she has to go through and what she’s willing to do to keep her friends free from harm.

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And if you think all that makes her seem to good to be true, well, she’s not that perfect. She is flawed. She makes mistakes. And she’s incredibly sarcastic. It’s one of her personality traits that I actually like most.

I’ve included just two passages in my defense post that highlight her sarcastic side, but here are just a few more.

I’ve taken out the character names in this last passage and changed it to [them] to keep it from being too spoiler-y. But this last passage is the perfect example of how truly selfless Kaylee really is.

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If you want to know what Tod has to say about her – and believe me, you won’t want to miss it – then be sure to head over to the YA Sisterhood’s blog. No one knows Kaylee better than he does.

Kaylee’s competitor in today’s match is Aura Salvatore of Jeri Smith-Ready’s Shade series. And while the two are in competition, we’re hoping to keep this friendly. No author or character bashing. No advocate bashing. Nothing mean-spirited.

Isn’t the point in all of this to celebrate our favorite heroines?

BUT KAYLEE WOULD LOVE YOUR HELP!

Especially as I have to be at work for over half the time that voting will be going on, and asleep for at least some of it. I can’t risk losing my job as much as I’d love to be the best advocate I can be. Which is why I’ve reached out to a few lovely people who offered to help out in my absence.

And given the stiff competition, Kaylee needs your help! Aura’s team has already put forth the battle cry. They’ve assembled Aura’s Army. And they have not only the advocate, but the author, Zach, Logan and Aura herself leading the charge.

So, if you already know and love Kaylee and would like to help her get the win, please be sure to VOTE, and spread the word on Twitter to VOTE KAYLEE with the hashtag #HeroineTourney  along with a link to the YA Sisterhood’s blog.

If you’d like to show even more support, feel free to grab the image and change your AVI on Twitter or Facebook!

And if you haven’t met Kaylee or are still indecisive, feel free to head over to the tournament’s blog and check out my defense post to learn a little bit more about her and to see exactly what Tod thinks of her.

If you think you might just love her as much as I do or Tod does, then VOTE KAYLEE.

THANK YOU

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I hope everyone’s getting excited for Kaylee’s match in the YA Sisterhood’s Tournament of Heroines that starts in less than two hours, at Midnight, Eastern and runs for ONLY 24 hours.

My post on their site, as well as here on the blog, will be going live when the match starts, with links to the YA Sisterhood’s blog so you can cast your vote – hopefully for KAYLEE.

During the summer YA Crush Tourney, Author Rachel Vincent allowed her character Tod to be interviewed by me.

[If you'd like to hear what Tod had to say, just click on the image, below.]

The Incentives

Well, to make it more exciting, this time around, as an incentive to get you to VOTE and to help spread the word to those who will VOTE KAYLEE, YOU get to ask the questions – though I may sneak in a question or two of my own.

And it won’t just be one character this time… Well, as long as Kaylee reaches certain milestones in the voting, which will be determined based on just how the voting goes, that is.

For this tournament, Rachel has agreed to allow Sophie, Sabine, Emma, Nash AND Tod to be interviewed. IN THAT ORDER. So, if you want to hear from the boys, let’s make sure to get those votes in for KAYLEE!

Each character will be asked FIVE questions, selected from the questions that YOU leave here on THIS POST.

Starting NOW, you can ask your questions for Sophie – whose novella Never to Sleep will be coming out next month – by leaving them in the comments.

Your questions can contain spoilers, but if they do, please alert any readers that they do by writing SPOILER QUESTION in front of your question.

Once the first milestone has been reached, I’ll stop taking questions for Sophie and I’ll make my selections. So be sure to get your questions in EARLY to guarantee that they’ll be up for consideration.

There will be a post for each character that is interviewed here on the blog. So be sure to check back to see whose questions were chosen and to find out what each character had to say!

After that first milestone is reached, stop back to leave your questions ON THIS POST for the next character in the list – Sabine. Then do the same for Emma, Nash and hopefully Tod as Kaylee reaches each of her voting milestones.

Both Rachel and I – and our favorite reaper Tod – are super excited for Kaylee to be in this tournament. And we hope to see her in the next round against the winner of the Tessa vs. Luce match.

If you’d like to show your support, feel free to grab the VOTE FOR KAYLEE AVI to use on Twitter or Facebook.

Also, as an added incentive – like you’d need more than a character interview – I will be giving away a Rachel Vincent BOOK OF YOUR CHOICE ordered from Amazon or The Book Depository to FIVE people who leave a question in the comments section, below.

If you stop by to leave a question after each milestone is reached, you will get an additional chance to win with each question. So if Kaylee reaches all five milestones and you’ve left five questions in the comments, you’ll have five entries into the giveaway.

Thanks so much for stopping by! And thanks, in advance, for all the support for Kaylee and for the awesome questions for the characters!

VOTE KAYLEE!

KAYLEE CAVANAUGH FTW!

And if you’d like to follow the craziness on Twitter over the course of the match, follow @rachelkvincent or @fiktshun or #HeroineTourney.

Thanks so much to everyone who asked a question and left a comment! I’ve run the 39 entries through Random and Random chose….

If the winners left their email in the hidden details for the post entry, I’ll be reaching out by email, otherwise, please email me or leave a comment here with your details so I can email you for your book selection and address!

Thank you for all of your support! And be sure to head over to Rachel Vincent’s blog to leave a question for Tod or Nash!

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Once again I’m taking part in the YA Sisterhood’s tournament. This time, instead of favorite crushes, it’s HEROINES.

While I would have preferred villains, as they are so much more complicated and exciting to write about simply because they are so diverse and so wonderfully wicked – the sexy but evil villain, the repulsive but evil villain, the sexy villain looking for redemption or the sympathetic villain who is totally misunderstood – there are still so many amazing female characters that are true heroines that will make – and have already made – this competition exciting.

Many awesome female characters were nominated, not all of whom made the final cut, sadly. Some of my favorite heroines didn’t and some of my least favorites did. And while many of the female characters that made it into the top thirty-two are some of my favorite characters, not all of them embody the spirit of being a heroine, as I see it.

While the requirements for the tournament did not specify that this was the type of heroine that is required – after all, according to Merriam Webster there are two definitions:

And…

I believe a true heroine meets the criteria of the first definition. She should have the “qualities of a hero” or be “admired and emulated for her achievements and qualities.” Simply being the main female character should not make her a heroine for purposes of this competition.

By that definition, a whiny, self-serving or evil female main character could be deemed a heroine. Or a spineless, weak and helpless female main character could be crowned the winner in this tournament. And to me, that seems somehow wrong.

While there are varying degrees of heroism in many of the characters in this competition, not every female character who made the nominations ticks all the check boxes for the qualities I seek in a heroine. But there are a few that do.

Characters like Kaylee Cavanaugh, who I chose to defend even though I know the likelihood of making it past round one is slim, and past round two is near impossible. Or Rose Hathaway, whose heroism could never be questioned and yet will face an enormous battle if she wants to come out victorious. Or Alex Andros, Juliette, Janie or Calla who are also heroines to me, but yet have enormous odds against them in this competition.

There are a number of other female main characters that I most likely would think of as heroines, but because I haven’t yet read the books, I can’t state that with certainty. Katniss or Tris are two of the prime examples here.

And while I think of Clary as meeting the definition of heroine in many aspects, because of her enormous following and support from the author AND because I think there are a few heroines, like Rose, who deserve the title far more, I am not championing her in this tournament. But I do love her to pieces.

By the same token, while I love Tessa, she is going to have enormous support and just steamroll her competitors and I also feel that she hasn’t yet done enough to rise to the level of bravery and selflessness that I seek in a heroine, though after reading Clockwork Prince, she has come a long way.

I do plan on defending my character, Kaylee Cavanaugh, with everything that I have, because I truly believe her to be a heroine and no less worthy than any other. And I will also be supporting another favorite heroine who I’ve known and loved longer than I have Kaylee, and that’s Rose Hathaway. Though, if by some freak chance the two should meet in this competition, I will be voting Kaylee FTW.

And while this post is not my advocate post for Kaylee – which I’ll be posting at just after Midnight, Eastern on December 14th, at the same time voting goes live – but simply my thoughts on heroines, I can’t pass up the opportunity to at least highlight some of her qualities. And if you haven’t yet read the series and had a chance to meet Kaylee, be sure to check out my post here and on the YA Sisterhood’s blog on the 14th to learn a little bit more about her.

The same can also be said for Rose Hathaway, another of my most favorite of heroines.

Both of these amazing female characters embody the spirit of being a heroine to me. While they may be fictional, I would be proud to know either one of them and wish I had one-tenth the qualities of heroism that they do.

So, if you would like to show your support for either character, feel free to cast your votes in the tournament on their match days.

Or grab a button or change your avatar to help them in their fight! As difficult as it may be to believe, even Rose Hathaway is the underdog in this tournament!

Besides, how can YA Crush Tourney boys like Tod Hudson and Dimitri Belikov be wrong in their belief that these two girls are true heroines! Read More

Below are the YA books coming out this week that I am spotlighting for my “Book Watch: Releasing This Week” post.

These are books for the week of November 22nd-November 28th that I have pre-ordered.

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Unleashed by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie was released in the U.S. today, November 22, 2011, in hardcover, audio and eBook formats. It is currently available to order online in all formats at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Published by Delacorte Books for Young Readers, the print edition is 400 pages.

Unleashed is the first book in the Wolf Springs Chronicles by the authors.

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I haven’t yet read a book by either author, but I do own a couple books written by Nancy Holder. But when I heard about this new series, I was immediately interested and when I saw the cover I went ahead and pre-ordered this first book for my Kindle.

According to the description, the main character, Katelyn, is sent to live with her grandfather in Wolf Springs, Arkansas, after the death of her mother. But Wolf Springs is a small town full of dark and “sinister” secrets that are unleashed upon Katelyn’s arrival.

I can’t wait to start reading this book to find out just what secrets and “terrifying truths” are hidden in Wolf Springs, a town with a long and unsettling past.

To get a long look inside courtesy of the publisher, CLICK HERE.

Book trailer for Unleashed:

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Soul Screamers Volume One by Rachel Vincent was released in the U.S. today, November 22, 2011, in paperback and eBook formats. It is currently available to order online in both formats at Amazon and Barnes & Noble. [The B&N eBook can be found Published by Harlequin TEEN, the print edition is 576 pages.

Soul Screamers Volume One includes the novella My Soul to Lose, and the novels My Soul to Take and My Soul to Save by author Rachel Vincent.

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I have read and own each of the stories in this bind-up, but I couldn’t resist purchasing a print copy for my collection. I don’t normally like bound volumes, but I absolutely love this cover and the fact that the prequel novella, My Soul to Lose, is in its first printing, made this one I just had to own even though it will be unsigned.

I’m hoping to get the chance to re-read this series and having the first three stories in a printed volume will make it just so much easier for me to grab it off my book tower and devour it. And apparently I pre-orderd it for my Kindle, too, as it downloaded just now. Oops! Well, that will make it that much easier to read the first three stories electronically, too.

But I can’t wait until my print copy arrives so I can see for myself just how gorgeous this cover is. I don’t think the jpegs do it justice.

My Soul to Lose is Kaylee’s story. My Soul to Take is the book that started it all and made me fall in love with Nash and in My Soul to Save I got my first real taste of the Netherworld and realized just how awesome Kaylee really is.

In the Forests of the Night by Kersten Hamilton was released today, November 22, 2011, in the U.S. in hardcover and eBook formats. It is currently available to order online in both formats at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Published by Clarion books, the print edition is 288 pages.

In the Forests of the Night is the second book in The Goblin Wars series by author Kersten Hamilton.

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I actually don’t know too much about this series, but I won a copy of the first book from a giveaway and so I wanted to have this second book in the series in my collection for when I do get a chance to read it.

I have never read a book about goblins, though I may have read a short fairytale or two, and certainly not one where goblins are the main characters. But this story definitely has me intrigued. It sounds really kind of wicked and twisted in addition to being action-packed, danger-filled and complex.

The description for this second book in the series says that the “battle against goblinkind” is still being waged. And that the main character Teagan is still trying to fight against the goblin blood in her veins so that she can have a normal life. But fighting against her nature and against her relatives who are making things difficult for her and her friends is not easy.

This book sounds really cool, and I can’t wait to read both books in this series really, really soon. I’m glad that I discovered this series and that this book is now part of my permanent collection.

Saving June by Hannah Harrington was released today, November 22, 2011, in the U.S. in paperback and eBook formats. It is currently available to order online at Amazon and Barnes & Noble in both formats.

Published by Harlequin, the print edition is 336 pages.

Saving June is one of the books that can be chosen for the 2011 Debut Author Challenge hosted by Kristi at TheStorySiren.com.

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I had a very early ARC of this book, which I passed along as I knew I wouldn’t be able to read it by release date. But I did pre-order it for my Kindle once it was available to order early, so that I’d have it in my collection on release date.

This book sounds like it will be a story that is both incredibly sad and at the same time somewhat uplifting. And it sounds like a story that has the potential to be very powerful and one that will hit me like a ton of bricks. So, I’m not sure exactly when I’ll be reading it, but I do plan on reading it.

They say that tragedy can bring two people together, and in this story June’s sister, Harper, and Jake, a boy June had a connection with, head off to California with June’s ashes. But apparently Jake has a secret which is pretty earth shattering and will “turn Harper’s life upside down” according to the description.

I am curious to know what secret Jake is hiding, but I have the feeling that this story will make me cry – a lot – so I do plan on waiting just a little bit before I read it. Perhaps after the holidays.

Haunted Destiny by Ellie James will be released in the U.S. on November 23, 2011 in eBook format only. It is currently available to pre-order online at Amazon in eBook format for the Kindle.

At the time of this post, the eBook is being offered as a free Kindle download at Amazon HERE.

The full-length novel, Shattered Dreams, book one in the series, will be released in the U.S. on December 6, 2011.

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I have an ARC of Shattered Dreams, which I haven’t yet had a chance to read. But when I was stalking Goodreads, I saw that there was a novella and that it was available to pre-order at Amazon as a free digital download. So of course I was all over it.

The brief description hints that the main character is a mystic who when checking out a haunted house uncovers secrets that will change her destiny. Sounds like a pretty cool introduction to this series and one I can’t wait to read.

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{Note: All covers link to the books on Goodreads}

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Once again, this week I have four books pre-ordered, not including the free Kindle novella. But this time around I haven’t read any of the books being added to my pile. And no, it does not count that I read each of the Soul Screamers books separately, because I haven’t read them collectively in this bind-up.

I hope to read the novella so that I can read the full-length book before the end of the year. And I really want to check out Unleashed to find out just what is going on in Wolf Springs.

As much as I gripe about pre-ordering too many books, I love it when I have at least three books downloading to my eReaders on Monday night. So I’m really glad this week met my minimums and I’m hoping it will be the same next week.

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As always, I would love to hear what you’re hoping to add to your collection this week!

And if you have any great suggestions of “must read” books to buy that are releasing this week, please let me know!

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Well, I’ve talked about this giveaway for ages, and I can’t believe it’s almost November 22nd. I’ve had the four copies of this book for giveaway pre-ordered for what seems like forever. As Amazon promises me release day delivery, I’m ending this giveaway then and will be able to send out the books and the signed bookmarks on Wednesday.

I can’t wait to see what the cover looks like in real life, as I’m sure the jpeg isn’t doing it justice, and I’m so glad to have my very own copy delivering on Tuesday, too. Of course I’d love to get my copy signed at some point down the road, but for now, I’m just happy it’s finally going to be available in print, because it looks absolutely gorgeous.

To enter, fill out the form below:

Stay tuned…. Winners will announced later tonight.

Congratulations Jennifer, Dizneeee, Cathy and Katlen! You are the winners for the paperback copy of Soul Screamers Volume One plus a signed If I Die bookmark. I’ll be contacting you by email and you’ll have 48 hours to respond or I’ll have to choose another winner.

Thanks to everyone for stopping by and entering the giveaway. I hope you get a chance to read Rachel Vincent’s series, it is amazing!

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